Mercedes were conclusively fastest in the second practice session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Only one of the team’s rivals was able to get within a second of George Russell’s benchmark time. His best effort of 1’43.347 was also half a second faster than his team mate could manage.Andrea Kimi Antonelli missed around half of the session as Mercedes completed the repairs to the championship leader’s car following the hydraulic problem which struck in first practice.
Max Verstappen was third-quickest for Red Bull but his quickest effort was over eight tenths of a second slower than Russell’s best. As usual, Verstappen was not happy with his car’s balance on the first day of practice, complaining the “rear axle is coming off the ground” early on.
Arvid Lindblad caused the session’s only red flag when he crashed at turn eight. The Racing Bulls driver damaged the right-hand side of his car and came to a stop.
His team mate Liam Lawson had a near-miss with Lewis Hamilton on the high-speed run through the final sector. “That is so fucking dangerous” complained Lawson after dodging Hamilton, who has been summoned to the stewards over the incident. Russell also had a close encounter with an Audi at the same point on the track, telling his team “I almost went straight into the back of Bortoleto.”
Once the session resumed, Russell easily beat Charles Leclerc’s time to go fastest, and remained there until the end. Lando Norris was on course to improve on his final run but he peeled off into the pits and ended the session in sixth place behind the Ferrari drivers.
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Following his surprise pole position at another high-speed track earlier this month, Pierre Gasly put his Alpine a strong seventh, ahead of Oscar Piastri’s McLaren and Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull. Esteban Ocon completed the top 10, though his team mate was unable to set a competitive time as his engine failed when he rejoined the track following the restart.
Oliver Bearman therefore ended the session 20th ahead of the Aston Martin drivers, both of which have already picked up grid penalties for power unit parts changes. Fernando Alonso was further delayed by an oil leak in his power unit.
2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix second practice result
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